Effects of Bath Salts on Brains and Bodies

You Feel Sick

Bath salts can cause nosebleeds and make you sweat. They can also make you lose sleep and throw up. They can also make you very thirsty.

You Don’t Act Like Yourself

Some people who take bath salts can become extremely annoyed and violent.

Muscle Breakdown and Kidney Failure

Bath salts can make your muscles weaker. They can also make your kidneys stop working, affecting how you go to the bathroom.

Heart Attack

Bath salts can cause your heart to beat faster and your blood pressure to go up. This can give you a heart attack, which could lead to death.

HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis

Sharing used needles to inject bath salts can give you HIV/AIDS or hepatitis (a liver disease).

Overdose

An overdose happens when a person uses enough of a drug to have a very bad reaction or death. People overdose on bath salts because they take too much of the drug. You can die from a bath salts overdose.

Addiction

You can get addicted to bath salts. Over time, it can change the way your brain works. If you suddenly stop using bath salts, your body can get confused and you can start to feel really sick. This makes it hard to stop. This is called addiction.

When the high goes away or if you are trying to quit, you might:

feel depressed or anxious

get the shakes

have problems sleeping

have mental problems, like believing people are out to get you

have strong cravings to use bath salts to feel good again

Fortunately, counseling can help someone with a bath salts addiction.

Even if you get treatment, it can be hard to stay off the drug. People who stopped using bath salts can still feel strong cravings for the drug, sometimes even years later. It is best to never start using them.